v1.2.1.2 Update + A Few Words

I've added in 4 new cards and a few relics, as well as a few gameplay changes, the biggest one is the card stat levelling

I've decided to have the card stats increase linearly instead of exponentially, which means that health and damage no longer increase based on the previous level, it'll increased based off of the base level

so for example a card with 100 base hp will increase like (100 -> 110 -> 120) instead of (100 -> 110 -> 121) and so forth

i had the stats increase exponentially because that's just what i'm used to doing for games and think it's more interesting, but I've sort of realized that doing that kind of throws off the balance when you're late in the game so i decided to change it, hopefully it helps

i've added in a relic called the Infinity Drill which reverts this change in case you liked the exponential growth so it's not gone forever

v1.2.1.2 update changelog

• added new cards

  • nightclub, restaurant, police station, & kaiju

• added new relics

• changed level scaling to be linear instead of exponential

  • stats will now increase by 10% of the base level instead of the previous level

• added max card level (999)

• added 'revive & skip' button to game over screen

  • for 1000 star tickets you can continue your run after losing, this can be used if you feel like your opponent was too powerful or unfair

• minor visual changes

A Few Words

along with this update i have a few things i'd like to say, it's something that's been bothering me for the past few days and i want to get it off my chest

so, a few days ago someone sent me this video:

(i'm guessing a few of you have probably seen it by now)

i watched the first few minutes but didn't watch the whole thing, wasn't a fan of the style and it just came across as a little mean-spirited and immature, and i felt like i got everything i needed to know from the thumbnail

i left a comment below introducing myself and explaining why the game is why it is (why it has suggestive content, why it feels unbalanced, etc.) as well as responding to a few others and then went about my day

earlier today a separate person sent me the same video, and when i checked it again i noticed it had gained a lot more traction, so i went to see what was in the comments section...

...and the creator deleted my comments?? bruh????

i didn't even say anything inflammatory, i was just like, trying to be cordial?? but they were gone when i checked, that plus the overall tone of the video just really rubbed me the wrong way so i wanted to say something about it here

it kind of pains me to see this person is basing their online persona off of being hateful and vitriolic instead of providing constructive criticism and supporting indie games, and it pains me even more that the algorithm picked it up so they'll be incentivized to make more videos like this, it just sucks dude

i did notice there were a few comments that were defending me/the game so if any of you left those i really appreciate it, thank you for being supportive and having functional braincells

i have a few things i'd like to add, i've already made a lot of my opinions about this game present in various ways (like in devlogs etc.) but i'll have everything organized here:

• "Gooner Slop" - i don't think aestheta is gooner slop, or at least... not really? it's definitely not slop because I've poured a lot of genuine effort into this game and i'd like to think that i'm at least somewhat competent at making games

  i don't make suggestive/lewd content for attention or money, i do it because i like doing it and it makes me happy, and i like sharing that stuff with other people who also like that kind of stuff

  this game, as well as all my others, always has a disclaimer at the start that tells you what kind of content to expect before playing, so it doesn't "bait" anyone into playing a game with busty/lewd characters, plus it's all completely harmless

  i think what bothers me the most is that people only complain about the sexy female characters but are completely fine with the sexy male characters, like there's no double standards there? omicron is way more sexualized than queen ophelia (bro is literally naked and has his pepperonis out) but people are only losing it because there's a few ladies who want to show a little bit of skin, i think it says a little more about those people than it does about the game imo

  anyone who's like "grrr stop drawing sexy characters" is just talking to a brick wall, i don't plan on stopping any time soon

• Unbalanced - i'm aware that aestheta can come across as 'unbalanced', to be honest most roguelikes are naturally going to be pretty unbalanced due to the randomness, and on top of that the game it's based off of (clash royale) is pretty unbalanced as well, but since it's a single player game i'm not super concerned with fixing/tweaking things too much since it's not impeding on the gameplay of others

  i have made a few balance changes to certain cards, i just don't really keep track of all of them since they're pretty miniscule and this game isn't really one that needs constant balance changes, I've also tried my best to make sure that if you're not having fun you can skip certain parts of gameplay as well

  i kind of feel like it being 'unbalanced' isn't really something i can fix easily, it is something i'm aware of though and is the most valid criticism I've seen for this game, it's just something i can only eyeball over time

• Bad Dialogue - gonna be real with you i have written much worse dialogue in the past and honestly it's not that bad, i didn't really intend for this game to have lore prior to making it so i just kinda winged it and loosely tied it into the connected universe via solace inc., if you think this game has bad dialogue or at least isn't super interesting story/lorewise i'd recommend that you check out my other stuff like project malice or solace inc since there's a lot more worldbuilding and story there

• Too Small/Not Fun - that's fair, it is a $3 roguelike so i don't really think too much should be expected from this game, i only made this in a few months(?) and don't really have much planned for the game in the future, I've been trying to improve the gameplay as much as possible but it's kind of hit a plateau to where i can't really improve it any further outside of general polish and QoL improvements

overall, i think i'm... kinda done with this game? outside of doing bug fixes of course, but i have other things i need to be working on, plus i kind of lost a lot of motivation not only because of the negativity but because i just stopped played clash royale altogether, i was just getting tired of the constant broken evolutions and the toxic fanbase i just decided to quit so i'm not really thinking about CR nor Aestheta as much as I used to

i still am passionate about this game though and am glad it was made, i'm happy that it managed to capture the hearts of... at least a few people? it made me smile seeing people dm me saying that they've always wanted a clash royale single player mode or that they also used to play the game but didn't like it being P2W, and that aestheta was a breath of fresh air for them, those are the people that i wanted to target with this game and i'm glad it found them

this will probably be the last time i address anything like this for this game since i don't want to turn into a lolcow or anything, i typically don't spew my thoughts out like this in steam posts but because of recent events (and previous criticisms) i felt like i had to say something

thank you to all of you who have been supportive of the game, i genuinely appreciate it

if you're interested in some of my other stuff feel free to check out the Solace Inc 2 Demo, just released a Halloween themed update for the demo (and pls wishlist the game on steam ty)

as always if you run into any issues feel free to reach out on discord (@aplove) and i'll try to have it fixed asap